Community protests looming closure of Sharon Regional Medical Center
SHARON, Pa. (KDKA) — Sharon Regional Medical Center employees rallied with family and friends on Wednesday evening to save the hospital.
The hospital will shut down on Jan. 6, 2025, taking with it 699 jobs, according to a Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification notice.
"I'm just here because I'm genuinely concerned for our community and us as a whole," said Carlie Miller, who has a family member who works at the hospital. "There's a lot of services that are offered at Sharon Regional that are not offered otherwise in Mercer County."
The owner of the medical center, Steward Healthcare, filed for bankruptcy in May.
"This is a shock to everybody's system," nurse Mary Hoagland said.
She knows the importance of the hospital, not just from working on the inside. Her brother was treated at the hospital after he had a heart attack.
"They had him stented before I could even finish making our phone calls to our family. They saved his life. If he would have been on a Life Flight or an ambulance to go to Pittsburgh, he wouldn't be with me at Christmas. That what it means. That's what it means to everybody here," Hoagland said.
State Senator Michele Brooks said she has made keeping the hospital open her priority over the past several months. She said the 80 beds at the hospital, along with other services, are critical to the community.
"There have been times we've needed beds in Pittsburgh and you don't have them," she said.
She went down the line of employees who stood holding signs along the street next to the hospital.
"The state stands with you. We were willing to put in and we have put in millions of dollars into trying to save this hospital," Brooks said
The state was willing to put in more money than the Buhl Regional Health Foundation, which has a goal of improving the health and well-being of their neighbors, she said.
"They do a lot of important work, but I can't imagine what could be more profound to a community's health than saving the local hospital and keeping nine operating rooms open, a cardiology unit open, an emergency room, open behavioral health beds open, as well as approximately 80 beds," Brooks said.
Brooks said conversations are continuing at the state level about if the hospital can be saved. The fate of the hospital could be important for Miller's future.
"I'm going to graduate in May, and I am hesitant to move back, not knowing the state that the community is going to be in. Jobs will be lost, beds will be gone, patients will have to relocate," Miller said.